Earlier this year, I discovered the Dutch Baby; a thick, eggy oven pancake that is sometimes referred to as a German pancake. Though it had been months and months since my first enjoyable and successful endeavor, I got a huge craving for these babies this morning!

Of course, I didn’t want to make the same recipe that I made the first time, so I did a little research and came up with a second variation that was, dare I say, positively delicious!

Most of the Dutch Baby recipes I spied were made with white sugar, white flour, and an unnecessary amount of butter. If I ate that way for breakfast, I would fall flat on my face by 9am. I reduced the butter significantly, and in fact changed it to coconut oil, I subbed the flour with rolled oats (ground in 30 seconds into a flour), and used maple syrup as my choice of sweetener in moderation. Trust me, there was no sacrafice. This is a wonderful brunch-worthy recipe that you can actually feel good about eating. Plus, with the changes, the recipe is dairy-free, soy-free, and wheat-free (optionally gluten-free)!

Yesterday I promised something with blueberries … so I decided to pair our breakfast with a quick and chunky blueberry maple sauce. But these ultra-thick pancakes are very versatile. I have suggested a few different topping ideas in the recipe, but feel free to go crazy and experiment with your own pairings.

Oh, I have one last note, on the eggs. Until I discovered organic eggs, I literally (literally) couldn’t stomach eggs. No idea why, but my husband even noticed the quality difference. I know what you are thinking, organic eggs, I thought you were frugal?! Take a look around for medium organic eggs. They are quite a bit cheaper than the large ones, and we still tend to use the same amount of eggs no matter what size I buy. Hence why this recipe uses medium eggs. You can sub 3 to 4 large eggs if you wish, depending on how eggy you want it.

I really want to make a savory and grain-free version of Dutch Babies, but the flavor ideas just aren’t coming to me as of yet. Most savory versions use cheese, but I know some fresh herbs and vegetables can stand alone, if only I can think of a good combination. I welcome suggestions! In the meantime, enjoy …

Healthy Wheat-Free / Dairy-Free Dutch Babies

This recipe is Vegetarian, Dairy-Free, Wheat-Free, Soy-Free, Nut-Free, Low Sugar, Relatively Low in Fat, and optionally Gluten-Free (seek out some of those certified gluten-free oats)

1 Cup Rolled Oats (can sub 1 cup of your flour of choice)

1/8 Teaspoon Salt

1 Cup Regular or Unsweetened Milk Alternative (I used unsweetened coconut milk beverage from Turtle Mountain – it was on sale! Rice, Almond, or Hemp Milk should also work well)

Place half of the oats in a spice / coffee grinder and whiz for about 30 seconds, or until the oats turn into a flour. Repeat with the remaining oats. I believe this can also be done in a food processor, but it is so quick, easy, and clean in a cheap little spice grinder ($15 at the grocery store!), why bother.

Sift the oat flour and salt into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Whisk in the milk alternative, sweetener, and vanilla, stirring until everything is well combined.

Whisk in the eggs one at a time until incorporated.

Put the coconut oil or margarine in a 9″ pie plate, cast iron pan, or similarly sized baking dish, and place it in the oven for a few minutes, or until the oil / margarine is melted and the pan is good and heated.

Removed the dish (with a pot holder!) and swirl the oil / margarine around a bit to coat. Pour in the egg batter, pop it in the oven, and leave it be for 25 minutes.

The batter will climb up, swelling a bit like a souffle (it is really fun to watch). When you take it out of the oven, it will deflate …

While this may seem less desirable than a puffy souffle, the crater actually makes for a wonderful bowl to hold delicious fillings or syrup! You can fill it with my Sinful Cinnamon Apple Saute; a bounty of seasonal, chopped fresh fruit and/or berries; a dusting of powdered sugar and served with pure maple syrup; your favorite jam; or try my Chunky Blueberry-Maple Sauce (recipe below) …

Since I feared we might eat the entire dish in one sitting, I only made 1/2 batch of the blueberry sauce. If you want to fill the crater, the full recipe should do it. But, it was a good thing I held off, because for my husband and I, this was just a 2 serving recipe …

Yields 2 to 4 pancakey, eggilicious servings

Chunky Blueberry Maple Cinnamon Sauce

I find that the sweetness of this sauce does vary depending on how ripe your blueberries are. You may want to start with less maple syrup and sweeten to taste, and of course, you can always add more than 1/4 cup of maple syrup if it isn’t sweet enough for you too! Honey and agave are less expensive (and slightly sweeter) options that you can substitute if desired.

2 Cups Fresh or Frozen (not thawed) Blueberries

1/4 Cup Pure Maple Syrup, more or less as needed (can sub honey or agave nectar)

Add the blueberries, maple, lemon juice, vanilla, and cinnamon to a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and allow it to simmer for a few minutes. Sprinkle in the cornstarch, whisking to combine (I didn’t have any clumping problems with this method), and continue to simmer for a few minutes more to thicken.

Julia, since this really is more of an egg-based recipe, it will definitely be different with an egg substitute. But, you could probably still get a different but delicious result using an egg replacer – it would probably be more like an oven pancake. I might hold off on the oat flour though, since a flour with gluten would have more binding power.

[…] hate to put another post up so quickly after my last one, so don’t miss my Healthy Dutch Babies with Chunky Blueberry Maple Cinnamon Sauce post (I want to hear what you all think, and trust me, it is delicious)! But […]

Am so definitely trying that!! Been craving pancakes for a while, but these sound better!!
I’ll probs try topping them with grilled bananas. I seem to always have bananas at home that need to be used up…

Oooh, that blueberry-maple sauce is making me drool. I’ve not heard of Dutch Babies before, either. And now I have an excuse to try those new So Delicious coconut milk beverages. I keep hearing about how good they are.

They look like a great way to start the day! Also, thanks for stopping by my site! Being a traditional pastry chef I tend to use butter, flour, cream but I am trying to come up with a few alternative recipes that are gluten, dairy free. I even have a lemon curd biscuit recipe in my head to try next week!

I think I remember your last Dutch baby endeavor and I was swooning then, but the blueberry sauce really takes this to a whole other level! I will have to try this. Sounds like it would also make a great midnight snack.

I actually found large organic eggs for 2.99 a dozen at Whole Foods – not bad. Sometimes you can be frugal AND organic as well!

This is yummy!! I just made it and we don’t want to stop eating it. I made the syrup with blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. I will definitely make again. I didn’t have enough oats to make the flour, but I will try that next time. Thanks so much!

I don’t know if you use Costco, or have a friend who does, but in IL, I can get 18 organic large eggs (Certified Humane raised and handled, whatever that means) for $3.99! That’s less than I was paying for a dozen!

I wanted to report back that THIS RECIPE ROCKS!!!! What a fabulous breakfast/brunch to add to my family’s repertoire! Both my husband and I love it!

My slight changes were:
– I used a cast iron pan.
– I used 3/4 cup Authentic Foods Superfine brown rice flour and 1/4 cup Pamela’s gluten-free all-purpose baking and pancake mix (note: contains almonds and buttermilk).
– I used 4 large eggs, but the smallest ones I could find.

I can’t wait to make this again! My husband wants me to try a savory version with some shredded cheese and green onions, but I’m partial to the slight sweetness of this recipe. He also wants me to experiment using blanched almond flour for some of the flour mix (maybe 1/3 cup almond flour, 1/3 cup brown rice, 1/3 cup Pamela’s) and adding Italian spices to make a sort of breadier version to be used as a pizza crust. Thanks for a great recipe template!

[…] drawn to a blueberry concoction in the header that made my mouth water! She told me it was a Blueberry Dutch Baby and I was thinking about it all day. Besides the blueberry topping, she also recommends topping the […]

Oh my goodness! I’ve made this twice now, and freakin’ love it! My sweetie didn’t even seem to mind that it was gluten free. I’m guessing in part because it puffs up even higher than the wheat flour version we used to make.

Like in the variation above, I also used a cast iron pan. I used a mix of chickpea and oat flour. Then I whipped the mix in the blender for an extra long time to get it super bubbly (for extra rising power). And, last but not least, I added a healthy dose of butter in addition to the coconut oil in the pan for extra flavor. Yummy and no ache in the tummy, yay!

My whole family loves these! I wanted to report back that while this recipes works very well with the superfine brown rice flour and Pamela’s as I mentioned above, it does not work as well when I use another whole-grain flour such as sorghum or buckwheat. So I’m sticking with the superfine brown rice flour by Authentic Foods

A suggestion for savory toppings: zucchini and rosemary go very well together, so how about grating the zucchini and a quick saute with rosemary and the oil of your choice (salt and pepper too, if you like) to soften the squash. For that matter, you could use acorn or butternut squash with some sort of maple flavored syrup.